Richard (Dick) Freeborough
2011 - 2015
About the Board of Governors
The University of Guelph was established by the University of Guelph Act, 1964 which requires that the University be overseen by a bicameral governance structure consisting of a Board of Governors and Senate. The Board of Governors is responsible for oversight of the government, conduct, management and control of the University and its property, revenues, expenditures, business and related affairs. The Board is also responsible for the appointment of the President and has authority over all areas of University governance not specifically assigned to the Senate by the Act.
The work of the Board is governed by its bylaws and governing documents and managed, in part, through a system of standing committees. From time to time the Board also establishes ad-hoc committees and working groups to explore and report on specific questions or issues.
The Act prescribes that there be up to 24 Board members. The Board conducts its business through committees that bring recommendations to the full Board at regularly scheduled meetings. Meetings include open sessions, which visitors are welcome to attend, and closed sessions. The Board's annual term of operation is from July 1 to June 30.
The University is a not-for-profit charitable corporation with a fiscal year-end of April 30th. Notwithstanding its legal autonomy, because it receives funding from both the provincial and federal governments, the University is responsible for reporting on a number of matters pertaining to its operation to both the federal and provincial governments.
Meeting agendas and minutes for all open session Board of Governors meetings are posted publicly.
The eighteenth, and current, Chair of the Board of Governors is Nancy Brown Andison, B.Sc.(Agr.) '79. A list of past chairs of the Board is available below.
Past Chairs of the Board of Governors
Thomas A. McEwan – 1964 - 1968
Ronald S. Ritchie – 1968 - 1972
Emanuel I. Birnbaum – 1972 - 1973
W.W. Lasby – 1973 - 1976
Kenneth G. Murray – 1976 - 1979
Alan R. Marchment – 1979 - 1982
Cecil H. Franklin – 1982 - 1985
Edmund C. Bovey – 1985 - 1988
Ian W. Murray – 1988 - 1991
William T. Brock – 1991 - 1995
Douglas Dodds – 1995 - 1999
Simon Cooper – 1999 - 2002
Michael Walsh – 2002 - 2005
Douglas Derry – 2004 - 2008
Evan Siddall – 2008 - 2011
Kevin Golding
2015 - 2019
Shauneen Bruder
2019 - 2022